It’s a story about the small Dominican Republic village of Batay Magdalena and the Thomas High School Spanish students who have adopted it.

Batay Magdalena sits in the middle of the sugar cane fields in the flat, southeast region of the Dominican Republic, only minutes from the sandy resort beaches of La Romana on the Caribbean. The people in this village are dirt poor. During the day, the men go into the fields to cut sugar cane, for which they earn about $9 a week, while the women stay behind to tend to the home. Most of the money is spent on food and clothing, and still a lot of the children don’t have shoes. Many families can’t afford to send their children to school, either. You see, each student is required to have a notebook and pencil, which cost $6, more than many can afford.

It goes without saying that toys, candy, dolls, even school supplies are a luxury many of these children have never seen, let alone owned.

But the community of Batay Magdalena has a connection with Thomas High School. For six years now, senior Stephanie Sacchitella and her mother have made regular visits to the village, offering monetary and emotional support. So when Spanish teacher Jill Bryson proposed that to her Spanish 5 students that they do a community service project, Sacchitella introduced the class to the plight of Batay Magdalena. It was a perfect fit.

For the last several weeks, Bryson’s students have been collecting hundreds of treasures to be delivered to the more than 250 children who live in the village. They fill five huge duffle bags which Stephanie and her mother will take with them when they visit the village again this week. There are Nerf balls and jump ropes, kazoos, coloring books, Play-doh, Barbie dolls, toy airplanes, hairbrushes, school supplies, candy, stuffed animals, and so much more.

And yes, lots and lots of notebooks and pencils.

Jet Blue, by the way, has waived extra charges for these special bags.

Bryson is very proud of how her students have taken the project to heart. It helps that, unlike other relief efforts where food and clothing are sent to anonymous families, her students will actually get to see joy their gifts bring to the children, through photos and videos Stephanie brings back from her trip. Seeing those happy faces on the other end is “a valuable piece in all this,” Bryson said.

She added,

Many of my students may not view their ability to attend school as a gift, but this Thanksgiving Day they may think about their lives a little differently when they realize that they have helped a child attend school that otherwise could not do so.

The thing that struck me most about this story, though, came from when I was chatting with Stephanie. She told me how the villagers of Batay Magdalena are so very happy and so very friendly. “All their doors are always open,” she said. “They’d give you the shirt off their back” if you needed one.

Now, these are people who have virtually nothing. Their village doesn’t have running water or electricity. Their children go barefoot. But for what they do have, they are extremely grateful. On this Thanksgiving Day, that’s a lesson for all of us.

Jill Bryson's students show off many of the treasures they collected

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Tomorrow, log on again to find out about another project Jill Bryson’s Spanish 5 students are cooking up, one in which you can help.

email me at missyblog@gmail.com

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Missy Rosenberry, a graduate of Cornell University, spent many of her post-college years in radio, advertising and public relations. After taking most of the 1990s off to have her three children, she is now a full-time teaching assistant for the Webster school district, and a part-time karate instructor. She and husband Jack have lived in the Webster/Penfield area with the kids for 11 years. She'd like to use her blog to help others learn more about the Webster community.

Roderick Spratling is a husband and father of two who has lived in the community for over 18 years. Born and raised in Detroit, Spratling is a 1976 graduate of Michigan State University who earned a master’s degree in Manufacturing Management & Leadership from RIT in 2004. He’s a Purchasing Consultant in Global Purchasing for Xerox Corp., and he enjoys softball, bowling, photography, and traveling.